T-Mobile and Apple announce rate plans for iPhone in Germany, starting at €49 per month

13 Comments

T-Mobile and Apple have announced three simple, affordable rate plans for iPhone in Germany, starting at €49 per month. All three “iPhone Complete” plans include unlimited data, Visual Voicemail and access to T-Mobile’s more than 8,000 Wi-Fi HotSpots in Germany. iPhone customers can easily choose the plan that’s right for them based on the amount of voice minutes and SMS text messages they plan to use each month.

“This means that users can enjoy the fantastic experience of the mobile Internet on the iPhone with no worries,” said Philipp Humm, managing director, T-Mobile Germany, in the press release. The incredible combination of T-Mobile’s powerful EDGE network combined with the country’s largest offering of Wi-Fi HotSpots and the exclusive ‘iPhone Complete’ rate plans give T-Mobile customers everything they need to experience the iPhone to the fullest. The transparently structured Complete rates thus confirm our brand motto ‘simply closer.’”

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with T-Mobile and can’t wait to start selling the iPhone in Germany in just a few short weeks,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in the press release. “Starting at just €49 per month, we think these three rate plans give customers the flexibility to experience all of iPhone’s revolutionary features at affordable and competitive prices.”

All iPhone plans include Visual Voicemail, an industry first, which allows consumers to see a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to previous messages. Just like email, Visual Voicemail on iPhone enables users to immediately and randomly access the messages that interest them most.

iPhone combines three devices into one—a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device—all based on Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers.

By the end of 2007, T-Mobile will be the only network operator in Germany to offer EDGE throughout almost its entire GSM network. EDGE accelerates the mobile data transfer rate to over 220 Kilobits per second, which makes it almost four times as fast as ISDN in fixed-line networks. With EDGE, the German market leader offers its customers broadband anywhere and at any time. With 20,000 HotSpots worldwide, T-Mobile is the biggest Wi-Fi provider in the world. Of those HotSpots, over 8,000 are in Germany, where HotSpot users can achieve download speeds of up to 11 megabits per second.

Apple’s iPhone is scheduled to go on sale on November 9 and will be sold in Germany through Telekom Shops of Deutsche Telekom and the T-Mobile web shop. iPhone requires a new 2-year T-Mobile rate plan and will be available in an 8GB model for €399 including V.A.T. and will work with either a Mac or PC.

iPhone activation will require an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account or a major credit card; the latest version of iTunes available at http://www.itunes.de and a Mac or PC with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems: Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later; Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition.

13 Comments

  1. These rates for the iPhone in Germany are ridiculously expensive (starting at ~70 USD). While the US rates for iPhone are somewhat adapted to the US market, the german prices are not.

    Here in Germany, you can have prepaid cards with no monthly fee, where a voice call is around 10-14 ct and SMS 10-12 ct, respectively. Billing text messages with 0.29 € is considered close to robbery here.

    In this light, no T-Mobile iPhone for me.

    Reply

  4. Under complete plan M it is Euro 49 cents per minute of calling = 71 U.S cents per minute…
    Plus you have to buy the €399 ($575) iPhone… ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

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  6. The real problem with those plans is that none of them actually contains a data flat rate: The are all choked back to dialup speeds (64kbit/s downstream, 16kbit upstream) once you cross a volume of 200MB, 1GB or 5GB respectively before the end of the month.

    But that information is hidden in a tiny, light grey footnote on just very slighly lighter grey background…
    iPhone Tarife bei T-Mobile

    200MB per month is nothing with modern web sites.

    Bad form. And rather unattractive. The basic rates would have been okay (after all, our income is usually in Euro as well, so the crumbling Dollar doesn’t affect us really). But the nonexistent flat rate just makes a joke of it.

    Reply

  8. Remember guys this is what you pay for being first adopters. After a year or so the rates will go down because more people will be using the services (or competing).

    Still I think 300 minutes should be the minimum nowadays.

    Reply

  10. So, a US AT&T;customer should be able to come to Germany with his iPhone and use it in Germany on the T-Mobile network while traveling. Right? Of course, probably not…

    That would make too much sense for consumers.

    Reply

  13. the prices are in line with the competition, but too high in general. 39 cent for a minute and 19 cent an sms is ridiculous, the reduction of the data-rate a shame. and they want a “bereitstellungspreis” of 25 euros also. it means you go to the store, planing to spend 1500 euros for 2 years and actually have to pay a special fee for them allowing it. that is too much for me. so hacked iPhone (bought in the US of course for 277 euros), here i come.

    Reply

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